Polaroid
by xChewy
Summary: With his heavily abusive father keeping him and his mother locked up, only his friends have the chance of saving Kevin's life. That is, if they get there in time. Angst, implied rape, heavy slash and abuse, emo fic. Please read and review.
1. Smile For The Camera

Woooooooooo! I'm BACK. Back, of course, to my old emo self. That's right, ladies, (and the minority of guys out there,) I have reverted back to my old style of writing; horribly depressing emo abuse fics that leave you questioning humanity. Or, I hope they do.

I've been inspired by Until You Catch Me by Flower_on_thewind for a long time, and have been wanting to do something a little similar. (Kevin and abusive father.) But never got around to it because I didn't want to piss anyone off. But now I don't care! Yay me! So here it is, about four times more graphic and angst-filled and mean. Please review!

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"You won't believe what he's been lying to you about, either."

"Kate, shut _up_!"

"He wouldn't tell you in a million years, but I know. I have pictures."

"Please stop it!"

"What is she talking about, Kevin?" Lee demanded, concern rising cautiously in his voice. The girl between them stood proudly, holding in her grasp a Polaroid photograph. Beyond Lee, Mariah rose from the sofa and Gary turned around curiously. Rei took a step forward, up beside Lee. Kevin looked like he was either going to start crying, or pass out from panic.

"This." The blond said suddenly, shoving the picture forward. Kevin jumped for her arm, trying to grab the photo, but Lee was faster. Taking it into the light, he squinted down at it for several moments before it registered with him that he was really seeing what he was seeing. Kevin stood there, frozen in fear and shock, while Kate smiled at him with such an evil payback-is-a-bitch look that not even Kevin could pull it off on a regular day. A long, long moment passed while Rei and Mariah leaned over Lee's shoulders to see it too. It wasn't until Mariah snatched it from Lee's fingers and gaped at it that Kevin turned to leave, only to have his hand caught by Rei's. Turning to meet the eyes of the older, Kevin found nothing but fear and confusion, and Rei saw complete fear.

"Kevin, what the hell is this?" Lee almost breathed. An uncharacteristic blank stare had claimed his face.

"Please tell me it's a birthmark, Kevin. Please." Mariah said, closing in on tears. Kate smiled.

"Oh no, it's not. I promise."

"Kate, shut the _fuck _up!" Kevin sobbed, eyes misting. The girl blinked, suddenly not sure of herself.

"So you get beat up, so what?" She asked in a rude tone. Lee shook his head.

"Kevin doesn't get beat up. We… He's always with us, I thought. Chen hasn't been near you, has he?"

Kevin bit his lip and tugged at Rei's grip, which had since traveled to his wrist. He said nothing. Rei asked something similar and he shook his head, hesitated, and blurted that he didn't know. Mariah's eyes watered.

"Then how the hell did you get this? These… _This_ bruise, it's… it covers almost your whole back, Kevin!"

"I don't _know_!" Kevin sobbed again, tugging hard at Rei's grip. Kate stood, suddenly surprised. She had thought that Kevin had just been getting bullied, and when he acted like he didn't want anyone to know, she didn't think it was that big of a deal.

"It's red, purple, and black! How the hell can you not know?!" Mariah cried, clenching the photograph so hard that it started to crinkle. Lee stepped forward.

"Is it still there?" Rei asked softly, trying to calm Kevin down. The youngest was only growing more frantic by the moment. Suddenly, Kevin lost hold of the judgment he had on his actions, and stopped thinking about what he was saying.

"Of course it's still there!" He yelled, tears finally breaking free. "How does something like that ever go the fuck away?!"

"Kevin, calm down. Please. Just tell us what happened. You can trust us, we're your friends. You're family." Lee said cautiously.

"God, don't say that!" Kevin yelled back. He finally broke from Rei's grip, but didn't run. "I don't want any more family, what I have is horrible enough!"

His friends all started, surprised at this outburst. Kevin was breathing fast now, nearing hyperventilation. Rei moved forward calmly so not to scare him into running away. He felt his eyes warming, as though he himself might show a tear, but he refused to let it out.

"Kevin, please…"

"No! K-Kate's lying, th-that's not m-me! I'm fine, l-leave me alone!" Kevin shouted before turning and rushing away, as fast as his legs could carry him. Lee made to follow before Rei caught his arm and shook his head. Together, completely shaken and petrified, his friends watched the direction he had run off in silently.

Kate had vanished.

-x-x-x-

Kevin closed the front door of his house behind him gently, exhaling despite the ache in his chest. He had collapsed a while back, pulled himself into a ball, and eventually over came the panic attack. It wasn't an uncommon event for him; he knew to breathe deeply into his hands and watch that he didn't hit his head, but that was only how to deal with the attacks, not prevent them. Lately, he had been getting more and more, and it was taking a toll on him. Dizzy and tired, the neko-jin slowly began to walk down the hall, whipping his eyes for the thousandth time; they had dried up long ago, but the feeling of the tears once being there bothered him.

As he reached the kitchen, the smell of alcohol hit his nose, and he froze. _Please be mom, please be mom, oh god please let it be mom_, he thought frantically. Stepping cautiously around the corner, tattered relief flooded his senses when he found his mother slumped against the counter, wine glass in her shaking hand.

"Hi mom."

Jumping, Kevin's mother turned suddenly and stiffened as if to defend herself. Spotting her son, however, a relief three times greater than Kevin's swept over her. She ushered him toward her gently, still shivering.

"Hi there, sweet pea. You okay?"

"Yeah." Kevin lied, crossing the kitchen and pressing against her. She set down the wine glass and hugged her small son, smiling pitifully to herself. She kissed the top of his head three times, gently. Before letting him step back, she made sure to check if he still flinched when she hugged him hard. He did.

"Oh my baby boy… Did he hurt you?"

"No, mummy." Kevin lied again. His mother wasn't capable of taking the news that he was still being hurt. She was enough of a wreck; two glasses of wine before bed, followed by shaking and crying into her pillow. Actually, she always shivered. She had shadows below her eyes and her once beautiful hair was dull. Her face, so beautiful if only she wasn't so tormented by her life, was sinking and pale, with a bruise on the right side of her jaw line and a split lower lip. Still, she smiled weakly at him.

"You know I love it when you call me mummy." She said quietly, stroking Kevin's cheek. He tried to smile for her. He really, really tried. But it didn't come out like he wanted it too, and it made his mother frown.

"How's school, sweetie?"

"It's good. I got an A on that science experiment." There. It felt good to be honest sometimes. His mother smiled honestly to match the honest statement, and kissed his forehead.

"That's my boy. You're so smart, you know that?"

Kevin tried to chuckle and found that he was proud of how it came out. "You never let me leave for school without telling me." He said, smiling gently. She returned it. It wasn't always that simple, to answer the school question. Sometimes his projects would get destroyed during a war.

Or at least, that's what he called it when his father rampaged around breaking everything. Because it was chaotic and scary when it was happening, and the aftermath was staggering. Science projects, art pieces, math homework, all burned or torn or used as something to throw across the room. Kevin knew all too well that his border-line average-poor grades at school were because of that.

"Want to read the next chapter of our book?" His mother asked hopefully. It was the best thing in the world, when she asked Kevin that. An old book, full of stories about good prevailing over evil, some with pirates and some with nights, some with wizards and some with regular people, was stored out of harm's way. Whenever they had the chance, Kevin and his mother would find some safe place and she would read him a chapter while they both tried to escape life. Happily, Kevin opened his mouth to respond, but as his vocal cords began to assist him in speaking, the slam of a door flying shut caused both of them to jump. Had Kevin's mother been holding her wine glass, it would have dropped and shattered on the floor. Spinning around to face the entrance of the kitchen, Kevin felt his heart rate speed up considerably.

"Go to bed." His mother said suddenly, in a hushed voice. Kevin stood there, almost unable to move. His mother shoved him forward hurriedly.

"Hurry, go to bed _now_." She said, shoving him roughly along. Kevin bit his lip and stumbled forward before finally catching his footing and breaking into a run. He raced out of the kitchen, down the hall and around the corner, up the stairs and down another hall, into his room, and closed the door tightly. He closed his eyes, took five minutes to steady his breathing, and listened.

It took a few moments before the voices even reached him. He slid down his door and closed his eyes tightly.

"_What do you mean he went to bed?"_

"_He said he was tired, so he went to bed. That's all."_

"_Well I want to talk to him."_

"_You can't, he's sleeping."_

"_Would you shut the fuck up? What, you think I didn't get that? Why don't you make yourself useful and make me something to eat, huh?"_

"_But he-"_

A small, distant, and startled cry; his mother had been struck.

"_I said shut the fuck up, you bitch."_

Kevin looked at his feet sadly. His father wasn't going to come upstairs, and he knew it; he had heard that exchange a hundred times and not once had his father gone up to find him. He only asked where Kevin was because he wanted to make sure that his son was home before he was. He wanted to come home to two servants, not just one he had already cracked.

"_And make me something to eat, goddamnit!" _

"_Alright, dear…" _

A thump; his father had dropped his bag on the floor. _"Why the hell are you drinking? What, you're not happy?"_

"_No, dear."_

Kevin looked toward his bed. A couple blankets, three pillows, an old stuffed bear from when he was young. He wanted so badly to climb among them and hide, but he told himself that he had to be strong; he had to grin and bear it, or people would find out that –

Kevin set his jaw. People already found out. _The _people. His friends. They saw that picture, that stupid picture Kate had take of him just after he slipped in the mud and pulled of his shirt to see the damage. He hadn't known she was there, and he hadn't the slightest clue that she was wielding a camera.

"_What the hell is this?"_

Kevin closed his eyes and half-listened to the conversation downstairs while contemplating how he was to approach his friends after that.

"_It's something to eat. I thought-"_

"_I want a meal, not a goddamn sandwich! And you're job isn't to think, it's to do. _My_ job is to think, and me alone!"_

"_Well maybe you should give your son a chance, he's smarter then you!"_

Kevin's eyes snapped open. Rarely, oh so extremely rarely, did Kevin's mother talk back to his father. It never ended well, either.

"_What?! That little shit is almost as dumb as you! How dare you say something like that?!"_

Please mom, Kevin thought, please just apologize and run away. Please don't fight back.

"_Of course he's smarter then you! If you didn't ruin his homework all the time you'd see that!"_

"_Shut up!" _Kevin's father roared so loudly that Kevin could hear it clearly upstairs. He flinched and bit his lower lip, a shiver setting in.

"_He's failing school because he'd rather try and protect you, isn't that right? That little runt would rather be with his mommy then away from me. That's why he's smarter then you, he knows where he belongs!"_

"_He's petrified of you! He-"_

"_He'll be doing what I say long after you die, you stupid fuck!"_

"_What, are you going to kill me? Is that is Bernard?!"_

"_Just shut up you stupid whore!" _The man roared again. By this time, Kevin's face was pressed against his hands, and tears were flowing freely. His shoulders shook painfully as he sobbed. Why did they have to fight? Why couldn't things be like they used too? Muffled thumps and short cries followed. Kevin looked at his feet through watering eyes and listened to his father beat his mother, cowering in a ball against his bedroom door. After a while things seemed to calm down, but then he heard his mother scream. It wasn't a scream of pain, but rather a scream of shock and horror. And Kevin had heard it several times before; the strained pitch, the groaning echo, the sobbing at the end.

His father was raping his mother. Kevin's heart frosted over with fear, petrified that he knew what was going on below his feet. It also sparked something else to arise in Kevin's mind.

Just four days ago, Kevin's father had come home drunk. His mother had suffered his wrath before Kevin had come out of his hiding place, thinking it was over. His father, sitting in his easy chair with yet another beer can in his hand, snagged Kevin by the arm and pulled his son into a deep kiss, tongue to tonsils. Choking on his father's tongue, Kevin squirmed and whimpered and fought helplessly. The second his father pulled out, he slurred the following;

"You've got the same fuckin' face as yer mother, only yers' isn't all pale. So wassa difference if I fuck you too? I like th'sounda that. Two bitches insteada one."

And Kevin had run to his room, horrified, knowing that his father was being honest. Things only got worse with his father; from being yelled at when he was young to being beat up only a few years later, Kevin's father had gotten physically abusive very quickly. The kiss was the red flag, screaming to Kevin that it was only a matter of time before his father acted on his drunken words. And that scared Kevin more than anything in the world.

Downstairs, Kevin could hear his father call his mother a bitch. He could hear heavy footsteps coming up the stairs moments later, and before he could even dive for his bed the door behind him flew open and he tumbled backwards. His head landed directly between the feet of his father, who looked down at him in surprise for a moment.

"Sleeping my ass." He growled through clenching teeth, swinging one foot forward to kick Kevin's shoulder. The boy yelped and pulled away into a kneeling position before the man. He ducked his head and shook there, scared as hell. He expected something physical and painful, but after a long pause of nothing happening, Kevin lifted his eyes to his father's dark face. The man was sneering.

"Go hide behind your whore of a mother. I'll deal with you tomorrow."

And with that said, the man left. A few years seemed too passed by before Kevin burst into a run downstairs, crying and fighting a panic attack. His mother had already forced herself to sleep on the couch, and not wanting to wake her, Kevin hid in the closet the rest of the night.

-x-x-x-

"Kevin? Sweetie where are you?"

Kevin's violent eyes blinked to life and peered through the groggy blackness of the closet. He was curled in the same ball he had been in when he fell asleep, and now he was stiff and aching from the position.

"Baby, please come out. Please, it's okay."

Kevin shifted and sat up, the arm of a jacket trailing over his shoulder.

"I'm in here, mummy." He said with a cracked voice, knowing that his mother would hear him. There was a fumbling limp from outside before the door opened slowly. The second his mother's eyes fell upon her son, they began to water ever so slightly.

"Baby, what did he do to you?" She whispered, slowly lowering herself to her knees. Kevin just shook his head, having cried himself out last night.

"Nothing mama. He didn't touch me."

The woman looked at her son hard, but he didn't change his mind. Heaving a sigh, she lifted her arms and ushered him from the depths of the closet. It was an invitation he took cautiously, moving from the corner of the small dark space to his mother's arms. She held him like that for a while, aware that although he wasn't there, he had heard everything. Kevin felt her arms quiver against his bruised upper back, indicating the emotional mess she would always be. And to this he sighed and pulled away.

"What time is it?"

"A little after nine."

Kevin stiffened at this, suddenly plunging back into the fear he had come out of in the closet. "But school! What I'm I supposed to tell-"

He stopped short, but not because his mother was shushing him. He had nothing to tell his friends, nothing to cover up what was going on. Slowly, mind a complete blank on what to do, he fell back into his mother's open arms and stared into space.

"It'll be alright, sweetheart. We'll just tell them you caught a cold. No big deal, right?"

Kevin swallowed, shifting closer to his mother. That's what he felt it. That small, almost unnoticeable bump around his mom's stomach. He blinked.

"Mom, what is…" He asked slowly, leaning away. His mother paled suddenly, before looking down at her abdomen.

"Kevin, I… I have something to tell you. I, um… I'm…"

"No."

"Kevin, I'm pregnant."

"No. No, mom, you… you…"

"Please, baby, don't cry."

"But he'll kill it!" Kevin gasped, voice suddenly gone. Horror was the only emotion pumping through his veins, accompanying each red blood cell in his body. "Like the last one, mom, he'll kill it!"

The woman did not cry. She just gazed at her child, the only one of her pregnancies to survive out of five, and felt whatever was left of her happiness crumple away. She knew how hard it had been just to keep Kevin alive in her womb, to keep him safe. She had almost failed at doing that, and with her supposed husband at an abusive high, she doubted this one would make it. How many potential sons and daughters had she lost because of his anger? His drunkenness? And what she finally managed to bring a child into the world, he was small because of her malnourishment. He was sick. He was a miracle, surviving the illness and surviving her husband to this point. Her most prized possession in the entire world was her son, her baby, the only reason she had to live. And here he was, mourning another to-be-dead sibling, a brother or sister that was to be taken away from him yet again. Was it for the best? Was bringing another child into this environment a sin in itself? Surely it deserved a fair chance at life. Surely it had the right to live.

"I won't let him, mom. I won't let him hurt you."

Pale purple eyes snapped open. He had made this promise before, so many times, and whenever he got in the way he managed to fulfill his promise. At a price, of course. His father would turn all the rage on him and then some, sometimes beating him within an inch of life. It wasn't worth it, she would tell him. Don't do that to yourself, it's not your responsibility. And, fearing for his own life, he would eventually cave and she knew he regretted every minute of it.

They stayed before the open closet door for what was easily an hour and a half. They were silent for a while, and then eventually they started to talk slowly. About stupid things. School, science, homework, all spaced out with long pauses and awkward, heavy silences.

"Please don't try to protect me, Kevin. Please."

Kevin gazed toward his mother, tired eyes blinking slowly. "I can't just sit back, mom. I know what he's doing to you. I can't let him."

"But he'll just do it to you." Kevin's mother said, not understanding that Kevin had implied about the rapes. Remembering that drunken kiss, he stiffened and looked away, suddenly afraid again.

"Okay mom." He whispered , hating himself for it. "Okay."

_If only you knew, mummy…_

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Oh dear, the poor little thing. A statement that can, of course be implied to both Kevin and his mother, or maybe the fetus if you're looking at it that way.

But hey, maybe now that his friends know, something will happen? … Maybe?


	2. Developing The Film

To blather on about this update, or not to blather on… Hmm…

I choose Not. Enjoy, and please review!

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Mariah's fingers pressed lightly against the keys of the piano before her. Each small note that lifted into the air seemed to affiliate itself with a new worry; was Kate to blame? Was Kevin alright? Why was he lying? Who would help him? Where was he now?

So many questions presented themselves to her when she saw that Polaroid. And then Kevin had run off, and neither Rei nor Lee made chase. Perhaps it was just a misunderstanding? No… No, it couldn't have been. Not since Kevin had reacted that violently. But then where had he gotten that… that bruise? That huge, black welt on his back that looked more painful then anything she had ever seen?

Mariah's fingers danced over E minor without thought. When her mother had introduced the piano to her at a young age, she never imagined it would mean this much to her. But the older she got, the more comfort she found in playing it. Perhaps it was the only escape she truly had anymore. Beyblading wasn't really doing it for her these days. And now her friends were all in an uproar while her youngest, most dear companion was missing and hurt. Was she at all to blame? Perhaps she had been careless in that she didn't notice. But what she didn't understand, and was trying to desperately to comprehend, was why Kevin hadn't told her about it. They shared everything with one another, be it as petty as a dirty joke, or as personal as a dark secret.

So why was this different? Was it really that horrible? And if so, then where was Kevin right now… what he okay? Mariah pressed down several more keys and sighed.

"For my own wellbeing," She announced to the music that surrounded her, "maybe it's best that I just convince myself that he's asleep at home… and… he's totally fine…"

-x-x-x-

Kevin's face pressed against the carpet of his living room. He was between the sofa and the coffee table, the sting of his father's belt still burning against his back. He didn't move, listening to his father storm back and forth in a rage. Seething deep breaths and the stomping of feet were the only sounds he could comprehend. The man muttered to himself, stopped, pivoted, and slapped the belt down on the coffee table, causing his son to flinch and whimper.

"I can't believe that stupid whore is pregnant _again_! It's enough that I have you to deal with, but _another_ mouth to feed?"

Kevin stared at the mahogany wood of the table, face almost emotionless. His small hands curled into fists very slowly as his father stormed about.

"And then you tell me that I could give it a fucking chance. You little brat, what the hell would you know?" He growled to himself. He wasn't addressing Kevin, not directly. He was re-living the conversation in his head while his son was right there.

"Fucking idiot. Give it a chance… How dare you? What… What makes you think you can tell me what to do?!" The man roared at the wall. Kevin tensed, but remained silent.

"Well you got yours, didn't you? 'Ll teach ya to speak to me like that. You're damn lucky I'm in a good fucking mood, you hear me?"

Silence. Kevin blinked his eyes into focus curiously.

"I said do you hear me?!" The man roared again. Kevin flinched violently, unaware that his father was actually talking to him.

"Yes sir." He mumbled in a cracked voice, anger vanishing to be replaced with fear.

"Yeah, you'd better. I'm the god in this house… You do what I say. Get up."

Kevin rose numbly to his feet and looked up at his father fearfully. The man was huge; probably one of the largest men in the village. He glared down at his pitifully small son and shot his arm up, pointing out of the room.

"Get out of my sight. And if you _dare_ talk to me like that again I won't hold back."

Kevin nodded once and scurried away, darting around the doorway and into the kitchen. He didn't know where his mother was, exactly, but the room was empty and when he heard the television turn on, he knew it would continue to be so. Timidly, he moved toward the fridge and found himself and icepack to press to his upper back. Most of the damage ended up there anyway. Flinching at the sheer cold of the thing, he leaned against the counter carefully and fought tears of pain and sheer embarrassment. He hated letting his father win like that, even if he had no choice. With that man, no one had a choice.

Twenty years ago, two families had a seemingly timeless feud raging between one another. One family was that of his mother's, and the other his father's. To settle the fifty-year-long conflict once and for all, the two heads of the families – Kevin's grandfathers – came together and decided to marry the eldest daughter to the eldest son. Raised with nothing but loathing and contempt for the other family, the two teenagers were reluctant if anything else. His mother, a reserved girl with a forgiving and hopeful nature reluctantly went along with it. But his father was enraged, having already fallen in love with another woman. Forced into marriage despite his protests, he made sure to never treat Kevin's mother fairly. Once he had gotten her to fear him and submit to him, once he was sure she wouldn't tell her father, he started getting physically abusive. By some miracle Kevin was born and even though he was the only son and his father couldn't get rid of him, he was still of 'tainted' blood and thus a target for abuse as well. Threatening that fighting would break out again if Kevin or his mother told anyone the truth, neither spoke of it. Besides, if the man got to either of them before they could find safety, he would likely kill them.

"_Kevin! Get in here now!_" His father cried from the other room. Kevin dropped the icepack to the floor and made his way quickly back into the living room. There, he found his father on the sofa with his feet on the coffee table. He had a beer in his hand and had stretched his arms over the back of the sofa.

"Yes sir?" Kevin asked shyly, careful not to move to close lest his father try to hit him.

"Come here." The man said forcedly. Kevin stiffened and moved – with great reluctance – toward his father. The man refused to move as his son drew near. Instead, he balanced the beer can on the arm of the sofa and motioned for his son to sit next to him. Heart and mind pounding in unison, Kevin did as he was told. The second his body made contact with the couch, his father's arm snaked around his upper back and pulled him right into the man's chest. Kevin gagged slightly in shock and fought the urge to push away.

"Now that I think of it, maybe it would be best for you to have another sibling."

Kevin's eyes shot open. Complete, unadulterated shock gripped his heart. What?

"Yeah, after all, who am I to stop it from happening?" The man said evenly, just barely keeping his teeth from clenching. Too shocked to notice, Kevin felt himself nod slowly.

"What do you think about that, eh?"

The small teen swallowed. "I-I think that's a good idea…?"

"Really?" His father asked, his voice showing signs of straining. After a mere nanosecond, Kevin picked up on the tone, but realized soon after that it was too late.

"So after all that, you still haven't learned your lesson?"

The life-giving muscle deep inside Kevin's small chest felt as though it had stopped. He had walked blindly into one of his father's oldest tricks. Within that instant, Kevin was shoved off of the sofa onto the floor, where he gasped in shock. Quickly drawing air into his lungs, he made a desperate attempt at fleeing the room. His feet slid on the floor before finding traction, and he was across the room in a flash.

The whole plan of escape relied on, as it always had, his father being too drunk to catch him. But at that moment, as the beer can fell from the sofa and clattered on the floor, his father was not intoxicated. The contents of the can spilled across the carpet as quickly as his father ran across the room, catching hold of his son and shoving him down again. Kevin bit back a cry and gasped for breath, pushing back quickly. With momentum already built up, his father managed to deliver a strong kick to Kevin's stomach while his son was still on the floor, shoving the boy into the wall. With no where to go, his father stood before him and leaned forward, using the wall for support as he continued to kick Kevin wherever he could; chest, stomach, hip, leg, arm, side. He even managed to land two or three against the side of Kevin's head.

Drawing back a leg, he kicked hard into his son's side, and listened to the boy gasp, cough, and somehow manage to cry out. He bashed the boy again and again until Kevin was screaming for mercy, tears dripping onto the carpet below. Then, after a mad shuffling from the left of his father, another voice entered the scene.

"Get off of him!"

Seemingly out of nowhere, Kevin's mother tackled her husband and pulled him away. Kevin gasped, unable to move or breathe. He writhed in pain, swallowing small mouthfuls of his own blood, and watched in a blur as his father threw his mother off and started kicking her.

_Kevin, I have something to tell you…_

Kevin felt his heart freeze over.

_No, mom, please…_

He felt himself rise to his feet, shaking like a leaf in the wind.

_Kevin, I'm…_

He shoved himself forward, shoving his body straight into his father. The action knocked the man over upon impact.

_I'm…_

He landed on top of the monster. Too dazed to get up immediately, he felt two strong hands wrap around his neck and refuse to let go.

_I'm pregnant, Kevin._

His mother screamed for her husband to stop. Kevin was flipped onto the floor. The hands tightened. He choked. His cheeks flushed pink from lack of air. His eyes struggled to remain in focus. His mother fought helplessly to get the fiend off. Eyes rolling back. Fog... Nearing blackness... Help…

_Mom, he'll kill it!_

Release. Air rushing into starving lungs. Blur. Sight slowly returning. Kevin rolled to his right, heart pounding hard enough to crack diamonds. His mother was suddenly silent, but so was his father. No noise. Stillness. Pain.

_I won't let him, mom. I won't let him._

The carpet left small indentations in Kevin's bruised arms as he pushed himself up and looked toward the form of his mother on the floor. Not moving.

"Mom?" Kevin whispered.

_I'll protect you, mom._

Kevin limply pulled himself over to his mother.

"Mom?"

By her head was a thick Buddha statue that had once held its place on the mantle. Blood stained its belly. In a haze, Kevin's eyes looked up to his mother's face, and found a large gash across her forehead. The blood made his stomach twist horribly.

_I'll protect you_.

"Momma?" Kevin whispered, tears welling in his swollen eyes. From the kitchen, he could hear his father rummage around for a beer.

Head reeling, Kevin looked toward his mother's stomach and shakily lifted up his right hand. Delicately, he placed it on the small bulge.

Warmth that only his mother could give seemed to radiate off of it. But this was foreign… fading. It was something else.

Tears began to stream down his cheeks, like delicate ribbons. Kevin felt his head grow heavy, as though someone were filling it with cement. He was dizzy and tired and wanted so badly to sleep. He noticed that the floor was growing closer just before his body slumped against it. Carefully, he pulled himself closer to his mother, hand not once leaving that bump. Then, just as he was about to fall away from reality completely, he felt it;

A kick.

-x-x-x-

Delicate droplets of water slid down the panes of Mariah's bedroom window, creating trails of blurred moister in their wake. The gentle piano music had long since flowed to a silence, leaving nothing but the patter of rain to occupy her eardrums. As she watched the streams of water travel downward, her breath fogged the glass in a frost-like pattern. She was tired and cold, and all over afraid. The night ticked on tediously, with no sign of the sun peeking up over the hills. Oh, what she would give for the next day to arrive…

A knock on the door. She turned around on the window bed and sat up, straightening her hair with little interest. "Yeah?"

"Mar," came Lee's whispering voice from the hallway, "you awake?"

Mariah nodded to no one. "Yeah."

The door cracked open. Lee peered inside and sighed, stepping in carefully. Behind him, Rei stood with a bag over his shoulder. Mariah stood up in surprise and once again made to fix her hair, this time out of embarrassment.

"What's going on?" She asked. Lee shushed her quickly as Rei entered the room. The ladder spoke.

"We're going to find Kevin, Mariah. He wasn't at school today and we're worried."

Staring them both in the eye for a good full minute, Mariah concluded uneasily that they were serious. Nodding, she told them to wait for her while she got dressed. As she pulled her hair back and slid silently down the hallway so as not to wake her parents, a feeling of anxiety came over her. Something bad was going to come of this… To who or what, she didn't know. But it wasn't going to turn out quiet as well as her brother and Rei were thinking it would.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Rushed ending, sorry about that. Hopefully they'll make it in time, right? Poor Kevin. Things don't look good for him and his mom…


	3. Printing Doubles

Okay. REALLY SHORT UPDATE. I'm sorry! I know it took me a while to get it up, but I have good reason. Final exams are boosting into over drive, and will be (unfortunately,) until the last day of school on June 10th. So until then, I won't be able to update this story.

Also, this is a really angsty fic. As, by now, you know. And it's hard for me to write it unless I'm in the mood for it. But this is something to hold you guys over until I can get a real chapter out. I promise that this isn't just a stupid filler! So please read and review!

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

If confusion was in the form of a glass of water, Kevin would be drowning in it. Somehow, from his place on the floor, he had awoken to a state of complete bewilderment and fear, unaware of anything around him.

When his eyes first opened up, there was a ringing in his ears. Then the headache. Then the numbness, all over his small body. Pressing his eyelids together tightly, he had pulled his arms in toward his body, only to find that one wouldn't move. Looking up, he discovered two things; one, his mother wasn't there. And two, he had a large kitchen knife stabbed clear through his arm and into the wood floor below.

Had Kevin eaten before hand, he would have thrown it up at the sight. Instead, he gagged and bit his tongue without meaning too, before choking on the air he tried to breathe. The knife, a long clear blade with a sleek black handle, had been jammed right between the two bones of Kevin's forearm, holding the appendage in place. The blood that pooled around the limb was a dark red, and sticky. Gasping for breath, Kevin managed to reach a hand forward and try to pry the blade from his flesh, but the oak beneath it held it in place.

Like a bad mathematical equation, Kevin added up the blood loss, pain, injuries, and lack of air. The answer? A dazed, horrified state. It didn't help that his father had taken his mother somewhere else, to do who knows what. With a pounding heart, Kevin took a deep breath and reached forward once more, struggling to pull the knife out.

A strained yell passed his lips as he realized the only way to move it was to wiggle it side to side. And he couldn't; no matter what he tried to tell himself, he just couldn't make the pain worse. Shaking in fear and agony, Kevin somehow curled on the floor and wept, blood soaking his shirt sleeve and matting part of his hair.

-x-x-x-

The road was dark. Somewhere along the way, Lee had dropped their house key and had to backtrack to find it, leaving Mariah and Rei along in the night. On any other occasion, they would have enjoyed it, hand in hand as they gazed at the moon and whispered sweet nothings to one another. But tonight? Such a picture perfect occasion was replaced with panicked thoughts of their younger friend, whose health had recently been flung into jeopardy. Paranoid, with their hearts beating awkwardly as a means to suppress the fear, they walked along the road toward Kevin's house, the moonlight showing the shadows beneath there eyes.

"You think he's okay?" Mariah asked after a long, unwanted stretch of silence. Rei swallowed and nodded, ever the optimist.

"Y-yeah, well, I'm sure we're just blowing this out of proportion. I mean, who are we to-"

_Aaugh!_

A distant, echoing cry. Jumping from shock, the two twisted around to find that they were right beside the start to the driveway up to Kevin's house. It was a long drive, twisting up between the trees and around the corner to the home. At the sound of the scream, however, Rei wasted no time bursting into a run. Mariah followed immediately, but Rei turned around quickly.

"No, Mariah, stay here. It could be dangerous." He said, worry for her safety clouding his judgment momentarily. Mariah stopped and narrowed her eyes.

"Are you serious?" She snapped through clenched teeth. Catching himself, Rei shook his head and the pair continued to run up the hill.

-x-x-x-

Kevin sobbed in pain and bit his lip to silence himself. Okay, so wiggling it back and forth might have loosened the blade, but it made it hurt twice as much. Shuddering, he released his grip on the handle and rolled his head around on the floor to actually look at his arm. The blood on the floor smudged his forehead and cheek, but somehow didn't get in his eye.

From somewhere else in the house, his father yelled at him to shut up. He still couldn't hear his mother. The approach of thumping feet fell in rhythm with his pounding heart, and after mere seconds of dread, his father was towering over him once more.

"What the fuck was that for? Are you _trying_ to get me in trouble?"

Kevin closed his eyes and rolled his head around, pressing his cheek against the bloodied floor. He sobbed. After a second of silence, his father's hand descended into Kevin's soft green hair, closing around a handful and tugging the boy's head back harshly. Kevin gagged.

"What was that? I didn't here you." The man knelt down and glared directly into his son's horrified eyes. "You wouldn't want to get your daddy in trouble, would you?"

"N-no…" Kevin whispered. The man narrowed his eyes.

"No _what?_"

"No s-sir." Came the reply.

Kevin's father stood back up, releasing his son from his grip. He wiped his meaty hands on his pants and remained silent for a moment before he smiled and squatted again. Reaching forward, he wrapped a hand around the handle of the knife, placing the other one over Kevin's mouth. Then, without mercy, he yanked the blade from his son's flesh.

The scream wasn't as loud as either of them anticipated. Kevin's voice was beginning to strain and weaken, and though he wanted nothing more then to cry out in pain, Kevin forced himself to stop as fast as he could. Removing his hand from Kevin's mouth, his father rolled him onto his back roughly and grabbed hold of his son's head, one hand covering either ear. Locked between hands as strong and rough as a vice, Kevin could only sob. Resisting was impossible.

Then, just like his father had done five days earlier, Kevin felt hot lips press against his. Violet eyes flew open in horror as his father hungrily dug his tongue into Kevin's mouth, muffling another strained scream. Kevin kicked weakly as his father pinned him down, lips grinding against his own and surely bruising them. Suddenly, his tear glands kicked back to life, and fresh tears began to spill across Kevin's temples.

Salvation, however, was nearby; and racing forward with rage in its eyes. Just as quickly as the tongue had entered his mouth, it vanished. In Kevin's dazed vision, further blurred by tears, a foot caught his father upside the head and sent him rolling off of his small son. Kevin could feel hands wrapping around his upper arms and pulling him across the floor away from his father.

Someone said his name. His mother? No, this was a different voice. This was…

"Mariah?"

"I'm right here, Kevin. Everything's going to be okay." Mariah's eccentric promise sounded out somewhere to his left. Kevin looked toward her and then back toward his father. The man lumbered to his feet, blood soaking his shirt. His blood? ...No. Kevin's blood. From the puddle on the floor. He must have been kicked into it by Rei, now standing there, ready to attack. A smudged trail of blood lead away from the puddle right back to Kevin's limp arm, lying at his side with a nasty knife-wound at least two and a half inches long. Thankfully, he was too tired to dry heave again.

Kevin's father barred his teeth, trying to figure out how to deal with these new invaders. He had overcome the shock of their presence rather quickly, and as he relayed his options, Rei charged.

The kick was well-placed. A fake to the groin pulled the man's attention downward, where Rei punched him hard in the face. As he leaned back, a foot caught his enemy's kneecap, and there was an awkward, dull cracking noise. Another foot pounded against his sternum. In a matter of minutes, Rei had Kevin's father on the floor gasping for breath.

"Kevin, focus on me. Look over here, follow my finger." Mariah said in a hushed, hurried voice. Kevin didn't follow the finger at all. Rather, he just gazed up into her golden eyes and felt tears returning.

"M-mar…" He whispered. She leaned in slightly, doing an oddly good job of ignoring Rei's pummeling job.

"My mom, Mariah, I need to… I-I need to find my mom…"

The golden eyes took a moment to widen. "Your mother?"

Kevin nodded with the last of his strength. Eyes closing, his head rolled back and he went limp, unconscious and somehow still crying. Three silver tears trailed slowly across his cheeks as Mariah held him, fighting the urge to cry herself.

"Rei!" She cried. The addressed managed to turn around half-way before Lee raced in. Stumbling to a halt at the situation, he stood dumbfounded for a brief moment before spotting his youngest friend.

"Kevin!" He cried, starting towards them. It was Rei who stopped him physically by grabbing a wrist, and Mariah who stopped him mentally.

"Find his mother, Lee. Find Kevin's mom." His sister sobbed, cradling Kevin's slight form against her chest. Lee gulped and nodded before pivoting on his heel and allowed Rei to lead him from the room. He hardly spared the unconscious man a glance as he went.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

I need to sleep more often.


	4. Yellowing With Age

Last chapter. Thanks to Demolition-GIRL-33236 for being so patient, and thanks to everyone who reviewed. As I did with Hostage, I have two songs that go along with this chapter:

"Breathe Me – Sia"

And

"Scrubs Sesame Street ending (piano) IMPROVED" (Search that on Youtube, you'll find it.) So, please enjoy and review.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

It was raining again, in a sleeping sort of way… As if the clouds above were sighing as the rain fell. As the rain drops descended and collided with the earth, small ringlets formed in every puddle. Flower peddles strained against the water that rolled over their velvet surfaces. Leaves fluttered in the gentle wind. The sky rumbled in the far distance. Gloom, it seemed, had decided to engulf the world outside of the small hospital. Perhaps it was good that Lee was the only one who was watching it happen.

When he was younger, his father had told him that all men were good. That, despite bitter words and horrific actions, there was decency inside of every human being. He had said that when a child was born, his or her slate is clean of sin, wrong doings and misdeeds. And that the small light of good inside every child remains there forever.

But now, Lee had more then enough reason to doubt that. When he had raced up the driveway to Kevin's house the night before, he had no idea what he would find. He could hardly remember what went through his mind as he skidded to a halt before his sister, cradling what he had thought to be a dead Kevin in her arms. It wasn't a moment where he fell to his knees and broke down. He just froze there, and pulled a stupid face. His mind threw it's hands up like a criminal caught robbing a bank. Not a single thing went through his mind, even as Rei pulled him along to find Kevin's mother.

His brain kicked back to life when they found her. She had been dumped, unconscious, onto the table in the dining room, where she lay gasping for breath. Both of the boys spotted the bulge on her stomach, and stopped short. That was when Lee realized what was going on.

But he supposed that it no longer mattered. The blur of events, playing through his mind in stop action flashes, were so fast paced and emotionally disturbing that he could hardly recall what he was thinking as he worked. He could remember lifting Kevin's mother off the table carefully, as Mariah called for help and Rei tried to revive Kevin. He remember the blood, so sticky and red and all over. When they got to the hospital, he had stayed with Kevin. They got him out of his clothes and Lee could remember all the black bruises, like creeping shadows across Kevin's pale skin. He had to leave the room, fighting a battle against his stomach's reaction to it; a battle he lost shortly after in the bathroom.

Rei had not faired much better. Unlike Lee, he wasn't able to hold back tears, and the sight of Rei's eyes watering had Mariah crying all over again. Knowing that she was leaning on them for emotional support, it must have been hard to spot Rei like that; he hardly ever cried. Eventually, Lee had had enough. He had left to find his own corner in the hospital, one near a window. He sat on the ledge and looked out at the world. How could something once so happy and peaceful become so ostensibly cruel?

It was a sort of limbo, he decided. To know that your own world is moving along just fine is always a comforting thing. Lee had been having a great few months, training and laughing and resting happily. But to be hit with the reality that another person, so close to you, has been suffering the entire time? The guilt was choking.

Lee sighed. In doing so, suddenly, a memory rushed back to him that he had long forgotten. Gazing absently at the window panes before him, he let it come without protest.

"_Lee?"_

_A groan. "What, Kevin?"_

"_Why do they call it a Japanese Maple?"_

"_Because it's from Japan, idiot."_

"_Yeah, but… how do they know? It looks just like every other tree."_

_Lee looked down at Kevin and rolled his eyes. At the age of nine, he was decidedly the smartest of the two, and Kevin, only seven, would just not stop asking questions. Not wanting to lose his self proclaimed title as the most intelligent, Lee took a deep breath and tried to sound sophisticated._

"_Well, you see, when people from Japan came over here, they brought the trees with them."_

"_Why?"_

"_To plant."_

"_Why?"_

"_Because they wanted the trees to grow here too."_

"_Why?"_

"_Because… Because it made them feel more at home. You know, they have those kinds of trees all over the place in Japan, so having them here made them happy."_

"_But I thought the Japanese were a bunch of killers?"_

"_They are."_

"_Why?"_

"_Because they came into our country and killed everyone."_

"_Oh."_

_Silence ensued. Kevin looked more or less afraid of the thought of people coming and killing everyone he knew. Lee, triumphant in satisfying Kevin's questions for however short a time, didn't notice until several silent minutes passed and Kevin asked another question._

"_If someone is hurting you, should you tell someone?"_

_Lee looked at him. "Well yeah, duh. China told the whole world about it."_

"_Really?"_

"_Oh, I'm sure they did."_

"…" _Kevin looked at his feet as he walked and said nothing. Lee, now aware that something was bugging him, stopped moving and in doing so encouraged Kevin to stop as well. _

"_You okay?"_

_Kevin looked up at him and brushed the hair away from his eyes. Blinking twice, he seemed to shrug off what he was thinking. _

"_Yep. Tag, your it!" He cried, smacking Lee's arm. _

_Lee cried out in surprise before chasing after his younger friend. Nothing was better then a game of tag with someone who could actually run as fast as Lee could._

Thunder, in the distance. Lee opened his eyes slowly, as if cautious to what he might find on the other side of his eyelids. Before him, the same window offered little consul to what had flowed through his mind. Sighing, Lee began to acknowledge other hints that Kevin had given throughout the years. Was he a bad person for not doing anything, or not realizing what they meant?

Lee began to walk in a slow, steady pace. The linoleum below his feet had been buffed recently, and as he gazed at the floor, who but himself was looking back up at him. Mindlessly, he made his was through hallway after hallway, eventually ending up in the ICU where Kevin was. Somewhere, in this sterile wing, he could see Mariah in his mind's eye still crying next to a hospital bed. As images of all the bruises flashed through his mind, Lee shuddered and continued to shuffle down the corridor. As his gaze returned to the floor, he jumped in surprise as Kevin looked back up at him, his eyes sad and bruised and swollen. Blinking quickly, Lee leaned forward and looked hard down into the floor, but this time only his own shocked eyes looked back. After a moment of confusion, Lee straightened his back and sighed.

Sleep, it seemed, was becoming necessary. Still, he refused to find a couch or chair so curl up on. Even with his mind fried from all the emotional stress, he knew that falling asleep would be next to impossible. Not in his given situation.

Finally, Lee arrived at the door of his desired location. Five, ten, twenty minutes passed and he remained standing there, staring at the white wood with his mind blank.

_Come on, open the door._ He told himself. His arms didn't move from his sides.

_Open it._ No reaction. Then, as he was telling himself for the third time to reach up and turn the silver handle, the door did it for him. From inside the room, Mariah twisted the handle and opened the door, jumping at the sight of Lee being right there.

Her eyes were puffy from crying. Stepping back and double-taking toward Kevin's bed, she sighed and looked her older brother in the eye. Lee let his shoulders slump pitifully.

"His mom is…?" Lee asked in a whisper. Mariah sighed.

"She's in a coma. They don't know when she'll wake up."

"And the baby?"

Mariah looked at him blankly. "It's alright."

Lee nodded. The siblings exchanged a moment of silence in which Mariah wrapped her arms around his shoulders and sighed shakily. Returning the embrace, Lee peered over her shoulder at the bed at the far end of the room. Kevin lay there beneath two blankets, asleep. He had a large square patch of gause on his forehead, and a smaller one on his cheek. His lip was visibly split and his left eye had turned an odd shade of purple, but it hadn't swelled much. Everything else was hidden beneath a blanket, spare his right arm, lying beside him and wrapped in aw white cast an inch thick.

"She's seven months into it, Lee."

He blinked. "What?"

Mariah pulled away from him. "His mother. She's seven months pregnant."

Lee looked at her stupidly a moment before the information registered. Stumbling over his words, Lee got out "But she looks like she's hardly four!"

Mariah nodded. "Yeah, well… The doctor said that some women don't really show all that much. And… that the baby would have died if she weren't so far along."

Silence.

"So what does that mean?"

Mariah chewed on her lower lip tiredly. Her eyes lifted up to meet his with obvious reluctance before she spoke.

"Well-"

"Hey."

The two turned, startling by a third voice. There, his hair a mess, was Rei. Lee stepped aside so that Rei could get into their doorway circle.

"How is he?" Rei asked softly. Mariah dropped her gaze to her feet.

"He's okay." She said, turning to look back at him. "But they don't know when he'll wake up."

Rei nodded and tugged at the scrub top he had been given. Having been holding Kevin when the ambulance finally arrived, he had gotten a considerable amount of blood on his shirt, and they had supplied him with the white top upon Mariah's request.

"So um…" He started, looking directly at Lee for a moment before returning his gaze to the floor. "So about his mom. They… don't think she's going to wake up."

Mariah looked at him. "Ever?"

"No."

"Jesus." Lee breathed, looking back in toward Kevin.

"But the baby should be fine… they hope. And… His father has been moved to-"

"I don't want to hear about his father." Mariah said suddenly, cutting him off. Rei blinked and nodded awkwardly.

"Okay, Mariah." He said softly. "Okay."

-x-x-x-

_One year later._

Mariah pressed her face into her pillow to escape the light. Somehow, she had forgotten to close the blinds all the way the night before, and now she was suffering for it. Rolling onto her back, she took a deep breath and smiled, eyes closed. Sleeping in was always and awesome treat, especially with Lee as her older brother. Just as she was drifting back into the fog of sleep, however, she felt her bed shift near her feet, and the next thing she knew, it was shaking feircly.

"Wake up already, come on!" Kevin cried, jumping up and down beside her. Mariah cried out in shock and rolled away from him, nearly falling off of the bed. Catching herself at the last second, she sat up with wide eyes and Kevin dropped down beside her, laughing. Slowly, she looked over at him. Her hair was a mess of pink, covering most of her face with only one eye visible.

"Kevin."

"Yyyeeesssss?"

"Get out. Of my. Room." She said slowly, restraining from killing him. Kevin just laughed.

"Oh please. It's noon. I'm not leaving until you get up."

"Kevin-"

"You kept me up all night after all with your music."

"You should be used to that by now."

"Nope."

"Uggh. Just get out."

"Nope."

"Kevin!"

"Nope."

Mariah chucked a pillow at him. Laughing, he ducked it and rolled away somewhat, still on the bed, only not on his stomach. He propped his chin on his palms and leaned on his elbows, kicking his feet back and forth in the air. "You're purdy." He said, with an annoying smirk on his face.

"You're annoying."

"Yhep."

From somewhere else in the house, they could hear the sounds of a baby crying. Both of them sighed.

"Your sister is awake."

"Really? I thought that was Lee."

Mariah laughed.

Two days after Kevin's mother had given birth, she passed away. Kevin's father was in a prison on the other side of China. And, now technically orphans, Kevin and his sister – referred too by Kevin as Hope until it just became her official name – had lived with Lee and Mariah and their parents for several months before the adoption papers were officiated. Despite how happy this secretly made Mariah, she was more then willing to put up the 'Oh great, another annoying brother' façade while Kevin was near her.

"Your turn."

"No way."

"Your mom's turn."

Mariah looked at him. The scar on his cheek and forehead stared back. Sighing, she shrugged. "Fair enough."

Several more minutes of banter passed between the two of them before Mariah eventually shooed him away, telling him she was going to get dressed. As he closed the door behind him, she stood and moved toward her vanity table, looking into the mirror for a moment and straightening her hair. Opening the top drawer for her hairbrush, Mariah's fingers brushed against something stiff and smooth, and she looked down.

It was a picture of Kevin and Lee on the sofa in their living room, talking about something or another. Kevin was in the middle of a sentence, using his hands to annunciate what he was saying, while Lee was rolling his eyes and smiling. Mariah grinned at the picture before closing the pulling out her hairbrush.

Closing the drawer, Mariah seemed to make haste in casting the Polaroid into darkness.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

I'M SORRY. I JUST COULDN'T MAKE THIS INTERESTING. I TRIED!

Okay, guys, so like. I tried really hard to make this an interesting update. I did. But all that seemed to work was this. I know it's really boring, and I'm sorry. ;---; But that's the end of the story. Please don't stone me in your review… if, you know, you review…


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